Happily
by ariabellewrites
Summary: This wasn't what their happily ever after was supposed to be like. They were supposed to walk their kids to school, and argue, and make boring conversation over a glass of wine. What they weren't supposed to do was find themselves in the middle of a pack war, all the while trying to keep a daughter, they didn't know was dying, alive.
1. Chapter 1

"Stiles," Melissa said walking into the waiting room with a forlorn expression on her tired face, "Stiles, I'm so sorry."

The man in question stood up as the worst feeling in the entire world settled into his bones, "Is she?"

"Not yet," She shook her head, "But soon, Stiles. It's time to say goodbye."

Stiles stared at his stepmom – who was really just his surrogate mom – for a long while as he processed, and then he nodded as a hard look took over his features. He had done this before, and he could do it again, he was older now, stronger, and wiser, he could do this, he could say goodbye.

He followed her down the familiar hallway, and turned the familiar corner, and then pushed open the door to the extremely familiar room. It wasn't like the typical hospital room, this one was different because it was her room, and she had been living here for months now.

The tacky pictures on the wall had been taken off and replaced with smiling pictures of their entire family, and they had plastered a peach colored wallpaper across the walls covering the princess wallpaper that had irritated her to no end, for some inexplicable reason.

The stiff hospital seats had been replaced with a couch pushed to one side, and a rolling chair on the other, the room was slightly cramped, but it didn't matter, it had always been cozy, or as cozy as it got in a hospital room.

She was sleeping, or at least that's what Stiles was telling himself, because it made him feel better than the alternative – because that meant she was unconscious, which was just one step closer to death. Her little hands were peeking out from underneath the blanket, and her nose was crinkled like it had a habit of doing when something was bothering her.

Like in this instance the stray piece of strawberry blonde hair that was strewn across her face.

Or at least that's what he was telling himself was bothering her, and not the tubes that were stuck in her nose allowing oxygen to flow through her body.

"I called Lydia, she and the boys are almost here," Melissa said quietly from the doorway.

"Thank you," Stiles said in a hoarse tone as he sat down in the rolling chair, "Can I have a minute please?"

"Of course," She said before there was the sound of a click of the door.

With all the gentleness in the world Stiles reached over to tuck the piece of hair behind her ear that she had begged for so long to get pierced. Lydia had been surprisingly reluctant to let her get them pierced, it had taken weeks of cajoling before she had finally given in.

'I want to be pretty like you, Mommy,' had been Lydia's undoing on the matter.

Stiles sighed as he gently placed a hand against her little face, what felt like just yesterday her face – that looked so much like her mom's – had been filled with such passion, and excitement, and just genuine life, and now her face was sunken in, grey, and exhausted – the signs that life had taken its toll on her clearly evident.

"Heaven's a lot of fun," Stiles promised, for lack of anything better to say, "You'll like it there, I promise. Nana Claudia's up there, so is Aunt Allison – you'll love her, Ev, almost as much as you love your Mommy – so is Aiden, but we don't like to talk about him much because he wasn't a nice guy, but he was there when it counted, they'll take care of you, I promise."

He cut himself off as he blinked back silent tears, he needed to be strong right now, he had to be, that was the only way any of them were going to make it through this. He was the only one who had been through this before, the only one who could handle this. He had to handle it for the rest of his family.

"You have to promise that you won't forget us while you're up there though, okay? You have to promise me that you're going to make sure the sun shines down on your Mommy once a day so she knows you're watching her, and you have to make sure something makes your brothers smile every day, and so they know it too. You have to promise me, you're going to make sure that they're okay."

Stiles waited for a reply, he knew he wasn't going to get one, but yet somehow the silence shocked him, and deafened him all at the same time. Everything hurt, it all hurt so badly, and he knew that one smile from that little girl on the bed would cure it all, but she was never going to smile at him again.

"And baby girl, I want you to tell me about your day, every single night, okay? Even if I can't hear you, I want you to tell me anyway, and then I'll know you're okay. You're going to tell me all about your adventures up there with Aunt Allison, and Nana Claudia, and Boyd, and Erica, and Aiden, and all these people that you don't know, and don't know you, but I promise love you."

Stiles shut his mouth as the door pushed opened and Lydia entered the room with both the boy's hands in her own.

Her eyes were just as exhausted as he imagined his to be, she was dressed down in a pair of leggings, and one his sweatshirts, and really she looked like she was dead on her feet.

And the boys looked about as good as they did.

"Is she?"

"Not yet."

Lydia nodded as she stayed rooted to the spot her eyes not moving away from him, like the idea of looking at their daughter terrified her so badly that she couldn't bear it.

"I can hear them, Stiles," Her voice cracked as tears began spilling down her cheeks, "I can hear them."

Stiles swallowed as he tried to hold back his own tears, if it hadn't been real before it was now, if she could hear the voices that meant that this was really happening, their daughter was really going to die, and she was going to die tonight.

"Dad?" Alex asked as he looked between him and Lydia.

Alex was their oldest, he was twelve, and looked just like him, with Lydia's take no shit attitude. He was his mother's son, except he had inherited his father's kinder demeanor. But more than that Alex was the definition of an older brother.

He took care of his two little siblings, he made fun of his little brother to no end – but he always took care of him – and he doted on his little sister, he practically worshipped the ground she walked on. He was used to knowing what to do when it came to them, except this time he didn't.

Stiles stood up and crouched down in front of Alex, and then pulled Andrew into his line of sight as well, "Do you guys get what's happening?"

"Evelyn's going to die isn't she?" Andrew asked.

Andrew was eleven and he was the perfect mix of Stiles and Lydia, and he had inherited his mother's brains, with his father's ability to solve any problem, he was easily distracted just like Stiles, and while he had Stiles hair color and eye color, his features were Lydia's. He really was the perfect mix of them both.

"Yeah, buddy," Stiles nodded, "She is."

Lydia crouched down between the two boys wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders, as their tears started, both of them knew that Evelyn had been sick, and both of them knew that their wasn't a cure, but they had been holding out for a miracle, they all were.

But they hadn't gotten a miracle, and now the baby of the family was dying.

"Hey," Stiles said firmly, "Listen to me, both of you. You guys can cry, and you can be sad, but you need to be strong, okay? Just for tonight. Just for tonight we need to be strong for her, and then tomorrow we don't have to be anymore. Tomorrow we can be weak, and we can be sad, and we can cry, and we can hurt, and she'll be strong for us. But just for one last night, we have to be strong for her."

"Can you do that?" Lydia asked quietly, "Can you guys protect your baby sister by being strong for her for one last night?"

"Yeah," Alex said first as he sniffed hard, as he tried to gain control over his emotions, "I can."

"Me too," Andrew agreed, "Just for tonight."

"Come on then," Lydia said pushing them forward gently, "Let's say our goodbyes."

Stiles waited till they were in front of him before moving so he could place a hand against the small of Lydia's back, she was trying to be strong for the boys, but she was terrified, she was about to lose her daughter, and on top of that she had the voices going off in her ears telling her what she already knew.

"Hey baby sister," Alex said quietly as both the brothers climbed up on to bed, careful of the wires, like they had done so many times before, "I guess you got tired of us after all then?"

Lydia pivoted quickly, and buried her face into his neck, causing him to wrap his arms around her tightly. He couldn't contain his tears anymore either, but Lydia's body was wracking with silent sobs in the way only a mother's body could do.

This wasn't supposed to be how their lives worked out. This wasn't supposed to be their happily ever after.

"I hear Heaven's pretty cool," Andrew added, "I bet there's lots of flowers for you to put in your hair up there."

"I'm sorry you'll never get to experience homework, I still will never understand why you constantly want to do mine," Alex mused making Lydia make a choking sound that was a cross between a sob and a laugh.

"But hey you'll get to meet Aunt Allison and Nana Claudia, and that's pretty cool!" Andrew said in a fake cheerful voice.

Both of their voices were like that, laced with fake cheer as they tried to sound positive, despite the fact that they were crying. Despite the fact that this was the worst day of their lives.

"I love you baby sister," Alex said quietly, "And I'm going to miss you so much."

With that Alex jumped off the bed, and ran straight in the middle of Stiles and Lydia, his head falling against Stiles' stomach.

"I love you Evelyn Rose," Andrew said quietly, "And I really wish that you could have stayed with us longer."

And with that Andrew wormed his way into the group as well.

It was such a conflicting experience, they all wanted to say goodbye to her, yet they couldn't bear it, and they all wanted to be with her for as much time as she had left, but they couldn't bear being by her either, and knowing that she was never going to wake up again.

"Lydia," Stiles said quietly in her ear, "You have to say goodbye, you're going to regret it if you don't."

"I can't, not yet," She whispered, "Let everyone else in, let them all say goodbye, first."

Stiles gently pulled himself away and turned back only once to see Andrew, Alex, and Lydia all buried into each other, there was no point where one stopped and the others started.

He pulled open the hospital room door to find all his extended family, his pack, all of them standing there waiting for news, waiting for something.

"If anyone wants to see her, say goodbye," He said quietly pointing a thumb towards the inside of the room, "Now's the time."

He let them all walk in first, accepting the hugs that they all gave him as they passed each other, and shook Derek's arm when he offered it to him, and didn't flinch when he dropped a hand on his shoulder for a brief second.

"Go ahead," Scott said quietly to Kira as the couple approached, "I'll be there in a second."

Kira nodded and after giving Stiles a brief hug she made her way into the room, her hand holding Scott's only son's hand tightly.

Stiles stepped away from the door letting it close shut behind him as he stared at his best friend – at his brother – neither of them had anything to say, but Stiles just needed a minute, and Scott had given him the out to have one.

He stepped forward after a second and threw his arms around Scott, and hugged him tightly breaking down for a few moments, before pulling away.

"Are you good?" Scott asked as grasped the door handle.

Stiles nodded wiping at his face with his jacket sleeves, and walked back into the room that had become unbelievably cramped with the people that loved his daughter.

"What's happening?" Lydia's voice cried louder than the others as the machines started making long drawn out beeping noises, "Stiles, what's happening?"

"She's coding," Melissa answered for him, even though he already knew the answer, that sound wasn't a sound anyone could ever forget, it was a sound that haunted you in your sleep, "This is it, Lydia."

She moved to turn off the sounds of the machine as Stiles moved through the crowd to stand behind her and push Lydia forward despite the fact that she didn't want to, if he had to force his wife to say goodbye then he would, he wasn't going to let her live with the guilt of not being able to.

"Evelyn," Lydia said quietly as they all crowded the bed, "Angel, you, I-"

Stiles hugged her tightly as her voice broke and she shook her head, "I can't Stiles, I can't."

"You have to," He whispered.

"No," Lydia screamed, "No, we have to do something, she can't die, she can't die, Stiles! I can't, I won't, I don't know how to live without her."

"Lydia," His voice broke, he didn't know what to say to that, because the truth of the matter was, Stiles didn't know how to live without her either. He could kid himself as much as he wanted by telling himself that he had been through this before, he could handle this, but he couldn't, because he hadn't.

He had lost a mother before, he had never lost a daughter.

"Scott," Lydia cried pulling away from him, and searching for his best friend with wild eyes, "Scott, you have to bite her, you have to change her!"

"Lydia," Scott's eyes widened his face probably reflecting every amount of shock Stiles was feeling, "Think about what you're asking me to do."

"I know, what I'm asking! You have to change her!"

"What about what she wants? What if she doesn't want this?"

"She's four, Scott!" Lydia yelled, "She's four, all she wants is to color, and ride her bike, and cuddle, and be happy, and be five! Change her, Scott!"

"Lydia, we don't even know if it will take, she could be immune to the bite like you are, or it could do the opposite of what you want it to."

"We don't have anything left to lose, we have to try," Lydia turned to look at Stiles her voice begging, "We have to try Stiles, please baby, we have to try."

"Lydia," He sniffed wiping at his nose, "We talked about this, we didn't want that for her."

"Stiles please," She whispered her voice broken.

"Dad," Andrew said quietly.

Stiles turned to look at his sons, both of them were nodding, and Stiles was hit with the sudden realization that if they didn't do this, then there wouldn't be a little girl who called him 'Daddy' anymore.

There wouldn't be a shriek of excitement and a little girl running at him the second he stepped out of his car every day when he got home from work. There wouldn't be a little girl who crept into his and Lydia's bed every night despite the fact that they told her she couldn't sleep there.

And there wouldn't be a little girl who smiled so brightly, so purely, that it looked like you were seeing the sun for the first time.

There wouldn't be an Evelyn.

"Do it," Stiles said quietly turning to look at Scott, "Turn her into a werewolf."

Scott stared at him for a second before his face changed into his wolf form, and he was moving forward. He only hesitated for a brief second as he looked at Lydia and Stiles one last time, making sure this was what they wanted, and then he sunk his teeth into Evelyn Stilinski's arm.

_For those who are confused, which is probably most of you, this is the prologue, so the story, as in the next chapter, will start about eight months to a year before this chapter, this story is basically all the events leading up to this moment._


	2. Chapter 2

"Psst, psst."

Stiles groaned into his pillow at the same time as Lydia did, and glanced over at the alarm clock sitting on his bedside table.

3:15 a.m.

Just like clockwork.

"Ev," Lydia groaned, "Go away."

Stiles blearily reached over and smacked the back of Lydia's head, "That isn't nice."

"Mommy, I can't reach."

"Ev, go away," Lydia repeated with another groan as she moved closer to Stiles who was blinking, forcing himself to wake up the slightest bit, as he had done every night for what had to be at least the past four months.

Stiles gently pulled himself away from Lydia and sat up.

"Don't encourage her, Stiles," Lydia protested like she did every night.

"Well what am I supposed to do?" He asked as he walked around to Lydia's side of the bed where Evelyn was standing on the bed frame on her toes, her little hands clinging onto the bed sheets of the bed and grabbing her by her middle and hoisting her over his shoulder, "Wait till she falls and hope she gets knocked out?"

"Maybe I'd get a night of peace and quiet," Lydia muttered as Evelyn giggled.

"Be quiet," Stiles scolded, "Your brothers are sleeping."

"Let's wake them up!" Evelyn offered cheerfully.

"Ev, baby, I love you," Stiles said as he gently moved her from his shoulder to his hip, "But it's really early, Daddy's really tired, and your brother's will be very angry with both you and me if we wake them up."

"Like how Mommy gets angry every night when I wake you guys up?" Evelyn asked curiously looking up at him with her bright blue-green eyes that reminded Stiles why he put up with his daughter waking him and Lydia up every night at the same time for casual conversation.

Because whether he'd admit it or not, it was his favorite part of the day.

"Mommy," Stiles smiled to himself as he walked down the stairs, "Just is better at using her nice skills between six in the morning to around one in the morning."

"Can we have ice cream today?" Evelyn asked as he placed her on the granite counter, swinging her little legs.

"Don't do that," Stiles scolded as he pulled out the chocolate ice cream, "You might fall, if you fall you'll break your head, and if your break your head, Mommy will break Daddy's head."

"Then we'll be broken head twins!"

Stiles blinked at his daughter who was already more preoccupied with blowing at a long strand of strawberry blonde hair that was in her face, while scrunching up her nose, and he was once again struck with the daily realization that his four year old was literally the cutest human being in the entire world.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?" Stiles yawned as he grabbed a spoon and stuck it into the ice cream.

"Uncle Scott is at the door."

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows, "No he isn't, Evelyn. It's 3:15 in the morning."

"So?"

"Right," Stiles nodded as he stuck the spoon into her mouth, "I forgot, you're the crazy baby who wakes up in the middle of the night to party. I swear you're nocturnal."

"Daddy, I'm four, I don't know what that means."

"It means you stay awake all night, and sleep all day."

"Whoa!" Stiles cried dropping the ice cream and then glaring at Scott, "Really? Couldn't you have like announced your presence or something?"

"The kid announced my presence," Scott pointed at Evelyn who was looking at the floor that was now covered in ice cream with a disheartened expression, "You just didn't believe her."

"She has a freaking sixth sense, okay?" Stiles grumbled as he began cleaning up the mess.

"Oh does she hear voices talking to her? Is she a banshee?"

"Don't," Stiles glared at Scott who was laughing, "Don't even start with that, my daughter is a perfectly normal human being. She is her father's daughter."

"Poor kid."

"You know what Scott? Get out of my house."

"Okay, okay," Scott held up his hands in his defense, "I'm sorry."

"Uncle Scott? Did you bring ice cream?"

"No, kid, sorry."

"But what am I going to eat now?"

"Yogurt?" Scott suggested.

Evelyn looked at Scott with the same expression Lydia gave Stiles the one and only time he suggested that they get dinner from Taco Bell instead of going to a sit in restaurant.

"Alright come here," Scott rolled his eyes grabbing Evelyn as she reached out for him, "Evelyn Rose, your Uncle Scott is very, very sorry for ruining your ice cream date with Daddy."

"Well if Daddy would have just listened to me," Evelyn drew out.

Stiles groaned as he stood up, "It is 3:30 in the morning little girl, you are lucky that I amuse you every single night, and now you want an apology from me?"

Evelyn simply blinked.

"Just in case you were wondering," Scott smirked, "You're raising Lydia. I hope you do a better job than Ms. Martin."

"Let's make cookies!" Evelyn cried.

"No," Stiles pointed a finger at her, "You need to go to bed."

"But Uncle Scott just got here!"

"What's so great about Uncle Scott? He turns into an ugly wolf, and shows up uninvited."

"I have a key, Stiles," Scott grinned, "That's like a permanent invitation."

"Whatever Scott," Stiles rolled his eyes, "What are you doing here?"

Scott glanced at Evelyn who was still sitting on his hip – though now preoccupied with picking at Scott's shirt, and looked back at him meaningfully.

"Ev, babe, come here," Stiles held out his arms, "Does Kira know you're here?"

"What is she my keeper?" Scott asked as Stiles gently pushed Evelyn's head down against his shoulder and began walking in circles around the kitchen, eventually she would fall asleep, and then he and Scott could talk about whatever it was that Scott had come here for.

"You'll never see me deny that Lydia's mine."

"Yeah well you married Lydia, I married Kira."

"So she told you to sleep on the couch, and you figured my guest room is nicer," Stiles surmised.

"How was I supposed to know that she told Lucas that he couldn't have mac and cheese for dinner? It's not even a big deal." He grumbled.

"Let me guess? You ate the mac and cheese too?"

"Okay, sushi is great, but some of that Japanese food is just weird, man."

Stiles glanced over at Evelyn whose eyes were shut, as she slept peacefully against his shoulder.

"What's wrong with her?" Scott asked as he followed Stiles out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Stiles sat down on the couch, placing Evelyn next to him, leaving her head on his lap, and covering her with a blanket that was laying on the floor since Alex had used it yesterday. He couldn't remember if he had told the kid to pick it up, and then decided he didn't really care all that much.

"I have no idea," Stiles admitted tiredly, "She won't sleep, like at all. We put her to bed, and she's up by like three, I can usually get her to go back down for two – three if we're lucky – more hours after a while, but she just doesn't want to sleep."

"It'll pass," Scott said with his ever present words of wisdom.

"She has an imaginary friend," Stiles rolled his eyes as Scott laughed.

"Does she really?"

"Yeah, her name's Allie."

"I like her," Lydia said sleepily as she walking into the living room tying her black robe, "She chose some really cute boots yesterday."

"You're taking shoe advice from a person who isn't really there?" Scott raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," Lydia smirked, "And judging by those shoes, you should get some advice from Evelyn's imaginary friend too."

"Okay you know what, I have had half a bowl of mac and cheese for dinner, and I was kicked out of my own house for no good reason so if all you're going to do is make fun of-"

"Okay, alright," Lydia held up her hands in surrender, "There's some leftovers in the fridge grumpy. Get some and then you can tell us what is really wrong."

"Yes," Scott fist pumped as Lydia walked across the room.

"Hi baby," She whispered softly tucking a strand of Evelyn's hair behind her ear, and gently picking her up, "Mommy thinks you're so much cuter when she's awake."

"You sure you don't mean when she's asleep?" Stiles teased as Lydia settled Evelyn in her lap, tucking her head into her neck, and throwing the blanket over the pair of them.

"I like you better when you're asleep," She shot back easily.

Stiles laughed and leaned it to kiss her. Lydia was the only person in the world who could out argue him – however rarely – and when she did, he settled for accepting his defeat, and claiming a kiss as a consolation prize.

"Alex wants to spend the night at Trey's tomorrow," She said leaning her head against his shoulder, "I told him he could go."

"I'm cool," Stiles shrugged not putting much thought into the statement. By the time Stiles was twelve years old he had been going to Scott's without so much as telling his dad. Most of the time it felt like he had raised himself, he didn't worry about the simple things when it came to his kids.

"Melissa called when you were at work," Lydia informed, "Her and Dad want to take the kids camping next weekend."

"Lucas is going," Scott said as he walked back into the living room, a container in one hand, and a fork in the other one, "He's excited."

"The boys can go if they want, I'm not too sure about this one." Stiles said hesitantly.

Evelyn's age wasn't the problem it was more so the fact that Evelyn needed more and more attention lately, and at the end of the day his Dad and Melissa weren't as young as they used to be, they needed sleep, which was something they weren't going to get with her around.

"I told her that I promised Ev a girly weekend." Lydia admitted.

"You lied to my mom?" Scott asked a fork halfway in his mouth.

"Don't act like we've never done it before." She rolled her eyes, "We don't need them getting worked up over nothing. It's a phase, it will pass."

"If you say so."

"Isn't there a reason you're here?" Lydia snapped.

"Right, your dad found a dead body, like a clawed up dead body." Scott turned to Stiles.

"Where was it?" Lydia demanded.

It was odd, things had been peaceful for years now, but that wasn't the odd part, what was odd was the fact that Scott knew there was a dead body before him. Stiles got why his dad had called Scott first, but before Stiles would have known before his dad had even made the phone call, and he would have told Scott.

Now his dad told Scott, who told him. It wasn't a bad feeling, just an odd one. Stiles wasn't sure if he preferred it this way, but he did know that he wasn't unhappy about it. In fact, he was happy about it. His life was no longer consumed with constant fear of somebody dying, he never felt the need to be one step ahead of everything. Stiles had been able to enjoy his life without worrying about what was coming next.

The familiarity of life that he had resented as a teenager was something he appreciated at thirty-one. He loved knowing that no matter what time he came home, somehow Evelyn always seemed to be running out the front door to greet him. He loved that Alex sat down at the dinner table to do his homework every night even though he knew Evelyn would come over and scribble all over it trying to do it with him. He loved that Andrew always let Lydia help him do his homework despite the fact that he didn't need any help, simply because it made her happy. And he loved the knowledge that every night he would go to bed with the same girl he had been in love with since he was a kid.

"What?" Stiles asked being pulled out his thoughts as Lydia prodded him.

"Do you think it could have been Malia?" Scott repeated the question he had previously asked.

Stiles thought about it for a second. Malia was impulsive, and had very little regard for lives outside of the people she cared about, but Malia had loved him, and Stiles, himself, had loved her at one point, and he had to believe that anyone he was capable of loving wasn't capable of murdering for no reason.

Even if she did spend eight years as a coyote, and was the spawn of Peter Hale.

"No," He shook his head and then realized something, "Plus she's not even back in Beacon Hills yet. She's visiting Mr. Tate in wherever Iowa."

"Liam didn't recognize the scent," Scott admitted, "But I kind of hoped he was wrong and that it was Malia."

"You hoped that our friend was a murderer?" Lydia asked in this manner that she had that made one feel like they were dirt under her shoe – thankfully, it was a tone that Stiles himself was no longer subjected to like he had once been before.

"I hoped that we didn't have an Omega on our hands."


	3. Chapter 3

"You know you're kind of a loser," Lydia commented dryly as Alex got into the front seat of the car pulling on his seat belt, "Twelve years old and you're still calling your mom to pick you up early from a sleepover."

"Hey," Alex defended, "I spent the night, but it was just becoming too much effort to be social."

Lydia laughed as she backed out of Alex's best friend Trey's house at an hour she hadn't intended to be even out of the house, which was the reason why she was only wearing one of Stiles' sweatshirt over a pair of tiny black sleep shorts.

Three children later – especially two boys later – even Lydia had grown to understand and have an appreciation for not always looking absolutely perfect. Though, for the record, her hair did in fact look, absolutely perfect.

"Careful, you're starting to sound like your dad."

"No Dad is just incapable of being social, he's awkward," Alex said pointing a finger at her, as he propped his feet onto the dashboard – a habit that Lydia had completely given up on trying to get him to break.

"Would you at least take off your shoes?" She asked as she came to a stop at a red-light.

"Where's the baby?" Alex asked pulling off his shoes, "And the annoying one?"

"Evelyn's at your grandparents," Lydia answered and gave her oldest son a pointed look, "And your little brother who is _not annoying _is at home sleeping, like I should be."

"Come on Ma, he's a little annoying."

"No he isn't," She insisted with a sly grin, "He's just kind of a dork."

Alex laughed loudly causing Lydia to do the same. God this child was one of her favorite human beings in the entire world; what was she going to do when he got older? Alex had been her little partner from the time she was nineteen.

It had taken Stiles and Lydia a long time to get to the point that they were at in their relationship, and Lydia knew very well that, that was her fault more than it was Stiles, despite the fact that she would maintain her position that Stiles and Malia's relationship also hindered things.

However, once they had gotten to that point right at the end of their senior year, it all moved at a rate that even Lydia had hardly stayed caught up with. They had dated for literally two months before Stiles proposed, they were married another month later, and by the time they were both nineteen, Lydia was pregnant with Alex.

In a town like Beacon Hills, Lydia Martin and Stiles Stilinski had become the talk of the town, and if it wasn't for the fact that the times didn't add up, people would have thought that they got married simply because Lydia was pregnant.

Except that wasn't it at all. They had been through too many things together, they had seen too much together, and they had waited a long time to be together, they knew better than most people that life was short and nothing was guaranteed.

It wasn't like they hadn't known they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, the timing simply hadn't been right till that moment in their senior year. And once the timing had been right, it was right, there was absolutely no point in waiting for anything.

That and Lydia had found the most perfect engagement ring in the entire world in Stiles drawer when she had been searching for one of the many shirts she liked to steal from him, and somewhere between wanting the ring the moment she had laid eyes on it and trying to comprehend how Stiles – who she was shocked could even match his own clothes – of all people had managed to find the single most perfect ring in the entire world, had realized that more than anything else, she wanted that ring on her finger, and she wanted to go home to Stiles every night.

And after dropping many, many subtle hints that went completely unnoticed, she had bluntly told him as they were driving home one day '_you can propose to me anytime you idiot'_ which had led to a reaction that she hadn't been expecting at all.

_Lydia drummed her fingers against the armrest of the front passenger seat of the jeep feeling more restless than she had in her entire life, which the fact that she was restless at all was saying something. She hadn't meant to find that engagement ring, and it was so obviously an engagement ring, in fact it was her engagement ring._

_She hadn't been thinking of marriage up till that point, she knew she wanted to spend her life with the mess that was Stiles Stilinski, but she hadn't been thinking of marriage till she had least won a Fields Medal, except she had found that ring and she couldn't think of anything else._

_Except for what she wanted their wedding to be like._

_She had spent about five minutes worrying about the fact that they had only been together for two months and they were eighteen before she decided she didn't give a shit._

_The idea of a wedding had come out of nowhere and had immediately consumed all her thoughts kind of like Stiles himself._

"_Lydia? Babe?"_

"_Huh? What?" She forced herself to think about the present instead of the future._

"_Dinner?" Stiles glanced at her as he turned onto her street, "What do you want?"_

"_I don't know, anything's fine." Lydia shrugged._

"_You're so helpful." He said with his usual manner of sarcasm._

"_Fine, let's order pizza," She said, "Are you sleeping with me tonight or are you going home?"_

"_I have to go home for, wait a second, what kind of sleeping are we talking about here? Because that totally affects my decision."_

_Lydia laughed as she thought about the question. If they were married and living together then there would be no need to ask if Stiles was going to stay the night or not, because he would always be there._

_She briefly wondered when she had become this girl. The kind of girl who hoped that her boyfriend would spend the night without her having to ask, the kind of girl who desperately wanted to spend every moment of every day with him, she wondered when she had become the kind of girl who's life depended so greatly on the life of another._

_If she didn't know what going insane looked like she would claim that she was going insane._

"_Can you get the clicker?" Stiles asked as he pulled up in front of her house so he could get past the gate._

"_Yeah," She nodded turning to lean down to rummage through the shit that was on the floor of his car to get the button that would open the gates when she noticed – not for the first time in the past few days – the outline of a ring box in his pocket._

_Lydia didn't know what he was carrying it around for, especially when it didn't seem like he had any intention of proposing anytime soon, but she had enough._

"_You can propose to me anytime you idiot," Lydia said bluntly as Stiles began pulling into the driveway only for the car to come to a screeching halt at her words._

_Stiles turned to look at her for all of a second before getting out of the car and pulling her out of the car and tossing her over his shoulder._

"_Stiles!" She laughed loudly slamming her hands into his back without much conviction, "Put me down, you crazy!"_

"_Be quiet!" He laughed back as he ran up her staircase and into her room, where he placed her on her bed standing up._

"_What are you doing?" She laughed even louder as she put her hands out to keep from falling._

"_I'm proposing you stupid." Stiles rolled his eyes as he fished into his pocket for the ring box._

"_Wait, really?" Lydia grinned widely._

"_Ask and you will always receive," He grinned back cheesily._

_There was something so perfect about spending weeks going absolutely insane over the ring, and Stiles inability to take a hint, and now he was actually going to propose. It was a euphoric feeling, mixed with complete and total disbelief, and the slightest amounts of relief. Not to mention that there was something completely hysterical about the entire ordeal._

"_Okay, well go." Lydia insisted as she once again nearly fell, yet somehow managed to stand upright._

"_This is insane, this is so insane," He laughed as he dropped on one knee and she nodded in agreement._

"_Lydia Martin," Stiles said clearing his throat and opening the box to reveal her ring, "Would you please do me the honor of being Lydia Stilinski?"_

_Lydia blinked and then shook her head, "No."_

"_Wait what?" Stiles cried, "What the hell? Lyds, you're the one who told me to propose to you."_

"_Excuse me?" She crossed her arms over her chest, "Did you not want to marry me? Oh my god, Stiles Stilinski I swear to god if that ring isn't for me-"_

"_No, hell no, it's your ring, it's definitely your ring," Stiles cut her off, "And last time I checked I was the one who loved you while you were busy ignoring my existence and-"_

"_Really?" Lydia raised her eyebrows, "You really want to say that to me when you're trying to get me to marry you?"_

"_Trying?" Stiles raised his eyebrows back, "Excuse me? You are the one who just said no. So trying is in fact failing. No pretty ring for you."_

"_Wait," Lydia cried as Stiles stood up and snapped the box shut, before shoving it unceremoniously back into his pocket, "No, I want the pretty ring!"_

"_Nope," Stiles backed out of the room as she jumped off the bed, "No pretty ring for the pretty girl. The pretty, crazy girl."_

"_Stiles, give me the ring," She followed him, "I want the ring!"_

"_And it could have been yours, it could have been yours forever, if you had just said yes."_

"_Well I would have said yes if you proposal wasn't shit!" She cried._

"_Hey," Stiles froze in his tracks, "There was nothing wrong with my proposal. I proposed after you told me to, and then you rejected me. That is just cruel, Lydia."_

"_You might as well have said, 'hey Lyds, let's get hitched,' or 'want to open a shared bank account' it was a shit proposal!" Lydia pointed a finger at him, "You said if I ask, then I'll receive. I want a better proposal."_

_Stiles glared at her for a second before he walked forward grumbling, and bending down slightly, wrapping his arm around the back of her knees and once again tossing her over his shoulder, "Don't even know why I'm doing this again, crazy girl just wants the ring not me."_

_Lydia started laughing loudly again but this time at how ridiculous Stiles' statement was. She loved that ring, in fact it was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen in her entire life, but she wasn't sure if she would have loved it as much as she did if it wasn't for the fact that Stiles was the one who had bought it._

_Stiles was the one who had searched for it, he had learned what kind of jewelry she liked, her ring size, her perfect ring, all without her knowing. She loved the ring so much because of the person who had both bought, chosen, and came with it._

"_Well," Lydia drew out as she once again found herself standing up on her bed, "Propose to me!"_

"_Well what do you want me to say?" Stiles asked as he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring again._

"_Something romantic!" She huffed, "Tell me I'm beautiful, and I'm the only girl you'll ever love or see. Tell me that there's no girl in the world who could compare to me, and that you loved me from the moment you laid eyes on me. Tell me I'm perfect, and I take your breath away!"_

"_Why would I do that?" Stiles asked shaking his head in confusion._

"_What do you mean why would you do that?" Lydia cried exasperatedly._

"_I mean I've already told you those things, I tell you that all the time. You're literally just spouting facts at me. Why would I propose to you, by telling you things I tell you every day?"_

_Lydia felt hot tears fill her eyes at the genuine confusion on Stiles face. This was why she loved him, he said the most perfect things at the most inconvenient times. But more than that it was the confused look on his face that she really, really loved._

_He literally had no idea how genuine he truly was, and how beautiful, and endearing that was._

"_Yes." Lydia nodded, "Yes Stiles, I'll marry you, and I'll be Lydia Stilinski. Yes."_

"_What? No." Stiles shook his head as she moved to kiss him till she couldn't breathe, "Quit moving."_

"_Wait, are you un-proposing to me?" Lydia said her eyes widening as she literally felt her heart hurt._

"_No," He cried loudly, "No, no, I just haven't re-proposed yet."_

"_Baby," Lydia whined, "Yes you did, you just don't know it, because you're a confused person, whom I love very much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to wear that ring so everyone knows I'm yours, and I want to wake up next you. I want you, Stiles, for as long as we have."_

_Stiles blinked, "Wait, I'm confused. Did you just propose to me?"_

"_No," Lydia whined even louder jumping up on her bed in frustration, "Stilinski! Fucking propose or give me the damn ring!"_

"_Right, okay," Stiles nodded as he licked his lips, "You know what's ironic-"_

"_Stiles!" She jumped up again in frustration as he dropped the ring and went diving under her bed for it._

"_Sorry, sorry," Stiles laughed as he once again fell back onto one knee, "I remember the very first time I was in this room-"_

"_Stiles," She interrupted groaning, "I don't care about how my room has changed just-"_

"_Would you shut up?" Stiles interrupted her right back, "I'm trying to be really smooth and romantic. I was going to propose to you a lot differently than this but because you are an incredibly impatient and psychotic human being Lydia Martin I am being forced to do this on the spot. So if you want a kick ass proposal, you need to shut your mouth."_

_Lydia huffed but crossed her arms over her chest, balanced her weight a little more evenly on the bed so she wouldn't fall, and waited for him to speak._

"_Great, are we all good now?" Stiles asked in an irritated tone, "The first time I was in this room you were completely and totally high, like you were completely gone, Lydia."_

_She furrowed her eyebrows that definitely wasn't the first time he was in her room. That had never even happened._

"_Trust me you were high on painkillers, you wouldn't remember it," He chuckled, "It was after Peter attacked you, and I remember walking to your doorway, and your mom told you I was there to see you. And do you know what you said?"_

_Lydia shook her head like a child feeling the previous giddiness take over her body once again._

"_You said and I quote, 'What the hell is a Stiles?' all while picking at your nails without so much as looking at me."_

_Lydia burst into laughter loudly, throwing her head back. Shit, she wished she could remember that moment._

"_Well now you know," Stiles said his expression and voice softening, "Now you know exactly who I am, Lydia. And I, I know exactly who you are. I've known who you were since the third grade. I knew who you were before you even knew it yourself."_

_Lydia sniffed quietly as she smiled even wider. This man was perfect, in every sense of the word._

"_So Lydia, you know what I want more than anything? I want to pull over on the highway so you can finish painting your nails, I want you to take up the entire bed when we sleep, I want you to kiss me while I'm in the middle of saying something, I want you to spend both our college funds on shoes, I want you to do all of these things for the rest of our lives, Lyds."_

"_Ye-"_

"_So," Stiles cut her off loudly with a pointed look causing her to half huff – half laugh, "Now you know, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Lydia Martin. I want to spend my life with a strawberry blonde, short, crazy, neurotic, genius person – but I've always known that's who you are, so you're the one who should probably think this through. I'm awkward, and I always say the wrong thing, and I'll probably never know the right answer to any of your questions regarding clothes, and I won't buy a new car, and I can't pay attention to anything for more than five minute, and all of our kids will be in danger of being exactly like me. So what do you say, Lydia? Will you marry me knowing all that?"_

"_Yes," She cried grabbing at his shirt so he would stand up, "Yes, yes, yes, yes."_

_Stiles laughed loudly as she jumped off the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist. _

_Her lips quickly found his and it didn't even take a second for his to mold against hers. She used to wonder, after she had kissed Stiles that first time in that dirty locker room what it would be like to kiss him again, if it would feel the same, she hoped it would._

_It didn't, and Lydia had never realized how incredible that could be. That first kiss on the locker room floor had been needy, and maybe a little bit desperate, it was raw, and it made every nerve in her body stand up, and she had never felt more alive than she had in that moment._

_But kissing Stiles now was different, now it was lazy, and it was effortless, and it wasn't thought through, and they kissed over breakfast, and they pecked each other's lips when going to different classes, and it filled her with this incredible warmth that felt just like sunshine, and Lydia could swear the second Stiles' lips touched hers that there wasn't a single thing in the world that could hurt her._

"_Hey, don't you want to put on the ring?" Stiles asked as they pulled away to catch a breath._

"_No," She whispered her eyes finding his warm brown ones, "No, right now, all I want is you."_

"Mom!"

"What?" Lydia turned to look at Alex.

"Go." He gestured towards the road where the light was undeniably green.

"Oh right," She said stepping on the accelerator, "This is your fault, I didn't have caffeine before I came to get you, I need my coffee."

"No it's not," Alex contradicted, "You were thinking about Dad. You always get this look on your face when you think about Dad."

"What look? I don't have a look." She protested as she turned onto their street.

"Yeah, you do." He insisted, "It's gross."

"You're gross." Lydia muttered.

"Hey where's Dad?" Alex asked as she turned onto their driveway where Stiles' jeep was clearly missing from, "It's Sunday, Dad's always home Sunday morning."

Lydia got out of the car grabbing her purse as she did so, and then grabbing Alex's backpack out of the backseat because the kid seriously did not know how to pick up after himself, as she thought about her answer.

She didn't lie to Alex, she told white lies to Evelyn, and Andrew, and sometimes even Stiles, but she didn't lie to Alex. She wasn't sure why she didn't, or why she couldn't bring herself to do it, but the kid was literally like her best friend, she definitely talked to him like he was – which was probably something that was frowned upon – and he was the sole reason the kids knew about the supernatural.

She couldn't lie to the kid.

"He's out with Uncle Scott." She compromised as they walked into the house, "Did you eat breakfast? Do you want me to cook something?"

"We both know even if I said yes, you'd make me a bowl of cereal and go back to sleep." Alex grinned, "But yeah, I had breakfast."

"Good," Lydia nodded as she set off towards the staircase with Alex hot on her heels, "I'm going back to sleep."

"Mom?"

Lydia turned in the opposite direction of her room to find Andrew coming out of his room looking slightly bleary eyed but mostly away, "Hey."

"Where were you? I tried calling." Andrew asked.

Lydia turned to look in her purse and realized that her phone wasn't there, "Sorry baby, I left my phone at home, I went to pick up Alex."

Both brothers turned to look at each other with equal displeased looks.

"Why?" Andrew asked, "You could have left him there."

"We definitely would have tons more fun around here without him." Lydia grinned as she leaned against the wall, "Come here, give me a hug."

"I'm too old for good morning hugs, Mom," Andrew rolled his eyes despite the fact that he was walking over to her, "I'm eleven."

"Well damn, you should start applying for your social security checks." Lydia muttered as she pulled her youngest son into her, and kissed his head.

Despite what others may have thought, Lydia loved her sons equally, while it was true Alex was her favorite person in the world it was in the sense where he was so much like her that she liked how easy it was to talk to him, because they both knew exactly what the other was thinking.

However Andrew was her favorite person in the world in the sense where he was so much like Stiles that she couldn't help but be interested in every single word he said, whether it was something that made absolutely no sense to her, or to something she already knew very much about.

And then there was Evelyn. Her tiny, sweet, little baby with a face just like her own yet a personality that couldn't have been more different. Evelyn was who she wanted to be around when she needed to smile. Her daughter was the happiest person in the entire world, but she was also incredibly shy, she liked the quiet, and Lydia loved that, she loved that the two things she associated with her daughter were peace and sunshine.

"We're going to go outside." Alex said grabbing a football from his room, "We'll try not to get kidnapped."

"Hey, that's not even funny." Lydia said pointing a finger at him, "If you so much as get a scratch on you, I swear to god Alex Daniel I will handcuff you to your bed."

"Duly noted," He nodded, "Can we go?"

"I don't want to play football." Andrew argued.

"Yes you do." Alex said walking forward and grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the staircase.

"Be careful!" She called after them as they made their way down the stairs simultaneously arguing while having a complete conversation.

Lydia had no idea how they did that, they were literally always arguing yet somehow they were always together having some kind of a real conversation in between all their arguments.

Both Lydia and Stiles had grown up as only children but they had seen enough siblings to know that siblings didn't get along on principle, yet somehow all three of their kids were incredibly close despite the fact that one was aged four.

It wasn't rare to find them all gathered in the same room, sleeping in awkward positions, or to be in the middle of some conversation where all three heads that were gathered together would separate at the entrance of either Stiles or Lydia.

Lydia had absolutely no idea what she would have done if the kids didn't get along, she couldn't even imagine them any other way.

She sighed as she opened a window in the large and open bedroom so the sounds of her sons in the backyard filled the room, so she would know they were okay, before sitting on her bed and pulling off her phone from her charger.

There were two missed calls, one from Andrew, and another from Stiles, and one text message from Melissa, which she opened first.

She smiled at the picture of Evelyn that Melissa had sent her. Evelyn was sitting on the counter – a habit she had that Lydia wasn't okay with whatsoever – mixing something in a little bowl with a look of upmost concentration, her little tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.

Next, Lydia called Stiles back, there was no point in calling Andrew considering she already knew what he wanted.

"Hey baby." He greeted.

"Hey," Lydia smiled to herself as she leaned back against the bed, "How's the, you know going?"

"The body hunting?" Stiles groaned, "Terrible. I literally feel like history is repeating itself, a body doesn't just up and disappear, Lydia, and without the body we have no way of tracking the Omega."

"I think we both know that is completely possible for a body to disappear," She said gently, they both knew that literally anything was possible, "But if it helps I could probably do my banshee thing and find it for you."

"It wouldn't work," Stiles argued, "We don't know a thing about this guy except for the fact that he was a werewolf, he was dead, and now he's gone. You have absolutely nothing to go on, and you can't do it on command if you don't know what you're looking for."

"You're right," She agreed as she laid down completely pulling the covers over her, "Hey Stiles? We aren't going to have to pull the bulletin board back out are we?"

Even though they weren't with each other, Lydia just knew that Stiles' facial expression had softened, and he would have that gentle look on his face that he always had when she was sad.

"No." Stiles said firmly, "No bulletin boards, no strings. If it makes you feel better I'll even get the Sheriff's department in on this."

"No," Lydia repeated though his statement made her smile, "I have complete faith in you Agent Stilinski."

"Where are the kids?" Stiles asked.

"The boys are playing football in the back, and the little one is with your parents." Lydia informed as she turned over onto her back trying to find a comfortable position.

"Should I pick her up on my way back home?"

"When are you coming home?"

"An hour, Derek should be here in an hour, so I'll just leave once he gets here. Scott has all day to search. Kira took Lucas out for the day."

"I used to take Alex out for the day." Lydia said wistfully.

"No you didn't," Stiles laughed, "You had Alex, and like a month later you were pregnant again. You had eighteen months as a mother with only one child, before the next came along. You used to take out Andrew for the day. I took Alex."

"Leave me alone," Lydia groaned throwing his pillow off the bed even though it wouldn't really affect him now, "I'm tired, I've been catering to your spawn before even having a cup of coffee."

"That's right you have and whoa – what is that?" Stiles' voice became distracted, "Shit, Scott, come here."

"Stiles?" Lydia prompted so he would remember that she was still on the line.

"I'll call you back." Stiles said quickly, "We just found another body."


	4. Chapter 4

"You know this was okay when we were fifteen," Lydia sighed as they set off into the woods, "But we have kids now, it should probably be our priority to stay alive."

"Try telling that Idiot 1 and Idiot 2," Kira laughed quietly as they walked further into the woods. Kira holding her sword, and Lydia holding the flashlight considering being a banshee didn't come with badass fighting skills, "I still think Stiles should get the police involved."

Lydia tilted her head slightly, "The police complicates everything, especially when the Sheriff who knows the big secret is going to retire any day now. There are too many people who know about the supernatural in this town."

"Stiles should take over for his dad. I don't get why he wasn't offered the job." Kira said sounding slightly offended on Stiles' behalf.

Lydia didn't say anything simply because Stiles' didn't want anyone to know, he hadn't even told Scott, but Stiles' had been offered the job, he had turned it down without so much as thinking about it.

Stiles had been recruited as an FBI analyst fresh out of high school – and Lydia was sure Agent McCall had something to do with that – but somewhere along the way Stiles had learned how to fight, and he had gotten really good at his job, and somehow he had become a field agent.

A damn good one at that.

Stiles loved his job, Lydia knew that very well, so despite the fact that there were weeks when he wouldn't come home because he was undercover, or out of state, she endured it, because if anyone deserved to be doing something they loved, it was Stiles.

Lydia knew that despite the fact that Scott was the big bad alpha werewolf, he was constantly worried about Stiles. It was different when it was in Beacon Hills and they were fighting the supernatural, Scott had the upper-hand, but outside that was a whole other story.

It was a world of guns, and gangs, and murders, and she spent most of her time wondering if and when he was going to come home, and that was still something Scott couldn't wrap his head around.

He didn't understand why Stiles had to be the one fighting all these people, which was why Stiles' hadn't told him that he had been offered the job, because Scott wouldn't understand why he hadn't taken it.

Stiles had never been made to do nothing, he would have never been able to sit around Beacon Hills responding to crimes like a shoplifting, or robbery, it just wasn't something he was made to do.

"Hey," Stiles said as him, Scott, and Derek walked over, "That side is clean."

"Great," She said sarcastically as Stiles grabbed her waist and pulled her into him, "How long is this going to take? I want to see my kids."

Stiles look at her with an amused expression as she wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, "You just saw them this morning."

"That doesn't count," Lydia shook her head, "Plus I haven't seen Ev all day, you dropped her off at your Dad's."

"Because we promised her to them." Stiles reminded.

"She's not a toy," Lydia said grumpily as she crossed her arms over her chest, and Stiles put an arm around her shoulders, "There should be no handing her off to anyone."

"Remember that next time you get pulled into emergency surgery."

"Leave me alone," She grumbled turning her head to press her lips against his cheek.

"Speaking of," Stiles said slowly, "I'm going to Atlanta tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" She repeated, "Didn't they give you like a notice or something?"

Stiles shook his head, "It's a lead on this case I'm working on, it's important, I have to go."

"Alright," Lydia sighed, "For how long?"

"A week."

"Great," She said in a displeased tone.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise."

That she had no doubt about, Stiles always made it up to her one way or another. He may have been one of those husbands who was always coming and going, but he was always emotionally there, texting her constantly throughout the day with random thoughts in his head in exchange for pictures of the kids.

God they were ridiculously domesticated.

"With sex," Lydia said into his ear in a low tone, "Lots and lots of crazy sex. The kind of sex where we have to ditch the kids somewhere, and not let them in a house for at least two days."

Stiles turned to look at her with wide eyes before nodding rapidly, "Yes, sex, lots, and lots of that."

Lydia tucked her lips into her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter as Stiles tripped over a branch and fell to the ground, she probably shouldn't have said that while they were walking in the woods, no matter how improved, Stiles was still Stiles.

"I think you broke him." Scott commented as he turned to stop beside her.

"Oh honey," Lydia patted his arm, "I did that a long time ago."

"Scott McCall!"

Scott groaned under his breath at the sound of Kira calling his name loudly as she stomped over to them, "You're going to scare away the murderer."

Lydia once again tucked her lips into her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter, she had a feeling Scott was going to be at her house once again tonight.

"They fight more than we do." Stiles said quietly as he threw an arm around her shoulder again.

"We bicker," Lydia corrected wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning into him, "And I never kick you out of our bed."

"That's just because you aren't capable of sleeping alone." He teased despite the fact that he leaned down to capture her lips in a sweet kiss.

It was true, however, she wasn't good with sleeping alone, when Stiles wasn't around she always slept with Evelyn in her bed, and sometimes she even guilt tripped the boys into sleeping with her and Evelyn as well.

"What is she so mad about?" Lydia asked looking back for a brief moment.

Stiles laughed as he hugged Lydia into him, "Lucas has a girlfriend, and Scott didn't tell Kira."

"No way, really?" Lydia laughed as well, "Seven year old relationships are perfect, she should be excited."

"So what if Alex had a girlfriend?" Stiles wondered as he let go of her to look at something in the bushes, and when he found nothing he came back, "Or Andrew."

Lydia shrugged, "That's cool. Didn't Alex date Cassie Monroe last year?"

"Oh yeah," He laughed, "They walked to class together holding hands. Best three day relationship ever."

"According to Alex, she was too clingy." Lydia smirked.

"What a baller." Stiles laughed.

"What about Evelyn?" Lydia countered, "Am I going to be sleeping on the couch when Evelyn gets a boyfriend, and I don't tell you?"

"One, I would never make you sleep on the couch, I would just go to Scott's," Stiles said making Lydia smile widely, "And second, Evelyn Rose is not getting a boyfriend. Not now, not ever, not at any point in her existence."

"And when she does get a boyfriend?"

"Lydia, I know how to kill a person with my bare hands, I also have a gun, I can kill somebody and make it look like an accident, so-"

"Hey," She raised her hands in surrender, "I'm not dating Evelyn, save your threatening speech for another ten years."

"She's ridiculous, dude." Scott sighed as he walked over to them leaving Kira in the other direction, "Like I don't get what the big deal. Lucas is seven."

"She's just being protective, Scott." Lydia tried to reason.

"You didn't freak the fuck out when Alex dated someone. Their kids, he's friends with a girl so he calls her his girlfriend. Not a big deal."

"Yes but my relationship with Alex and Andrew is different than Kira and Lucas." She defended, "Kira talks to Lucas like a mom, I talk to Alex and Andrew like they're my friends."

"Why do you guys keep fighting anyway?" Stiles wondered as Lydia turned around to look for Kira. It didn't take her long to find Kira and Derek walking in the opposite direction, and decided against going to her.

Lydia wanted to help her friend, but she wasn't alone, and if Lydia was being completely honest she did think Kira was being irrational more and more lately, fighting with Scott about the dumbest things, and at the end of the day her loyalty was to Scott.

Sure if it was Allison, there would have been no question, she would be with her best friend, but it wasn't Allison, and so she stayed put.

Lydia leaned against a tree and watched with sad eyes as Scott and Stiles looked at what was sure to turn out to be yet another useless clue.

She missed Allison, so much. She missed her every day, for a long time the first thought she had every single morning was 'Allison is dead.' Even now, some days it was the first thing she thought about when she woke up.

Lydia didn't even have a maid-of-honor at her wedding, it didn't feel right to have any one else stand next to her when she promised the rest of her life to Stiles. Without her, Lydia would have never have gotten there, down that aisle in front of Stiles. Allison had made her kind, Allison had found the human underneath all the bitch, and Allison had made her realize that she could be something more than who she was.

"I miss her too, you know." Scott said quietly leaning next to her, "All the time. Every day."

"She was beautiful." Lydia said just as quietly.

"She was the best." He agreed.

"Is that why you're fighting with her?" Lydia asked gesturing a hand in the general direction of Kira and Derek as they both slid down to sit on the ground, despite the fact that they were in the middle of woods, "Because you miss Allison."

"No," Scott said with a soft smile, "You want to know a secret?"

"Always." Lydia grinned.

"She's pregnant."

"No way really?" She smiled even wider, "Scott that's amazing! I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks," He laughed hugging her as she dove into his arms before pulling away to smile at him.

"Wait a second," Lydia said, "You're fighting with her while she's pregnant?"

"She doesn't actually know she's pregnant." Scott admitted, "It's the wolf thing. I can smell it on her."

"One, that's seriously weird, and two, shouldn't you just tell her?" Lydia raised her eyebrows.

Scott looked at her and raised his eyebrows back, "Let's pretend Stiles was a werewolf for a second. Would you appreciate him telling you you're pregnant?"

Lydia thought about for a second before nodding, "Okay, I see your point. I still don't get why you're picking fights with her."

"I'm not, she's picking fights with me, and it would be weird if I didn't fight back considering I'm not supposed to know she's pregnant."

"That is way too complicated for me," Lydia shook her head leaning it against the tree, "But I will take your word for it. So what's going to be another boy or girl?"

"I can't smell that," Scott laughed, "But I want a girl."

"Really?" She looked at him, last time around he was literally praying to higher powers that she was sure he didn't even believe in for a boy.

"What can I say?" Scott shrugged, "I met Evelyn."

"She's pretty fun." Lydia said with a small smile.

"I see Stiles and Evelyn all the time, I want that." Scott admitted, "I love Lucas, shit I love that little man, but he's a Momma's boy. It would be nice to have my own partner-in-crime."

"Do you know why Evelyn likes being around Stiles so much?" Lydia asked rhetorically, "It's because when she's around him, she feels safe, she doesn't think a single thing in the world could hurt her when she's around Stiles. Ev thinks Stiles walks on water, she thinks he could do anything."

"So you're saying my son likes Kira better because he doesn't think I can keep him safe?"

"No," She shook her head, "I'm saying that sometimes things are as simple as a guy is a guy, and a girl is a girl. Lucas thinks Kira needs protecting, he's drawn to her."

"That almost makes sense, but also just makes me wants a girl all the more."

"Yeah," Lydia agreed, "You do."

"What about you?" Scott asked, "How do you feel about more kids?"

"Oh god," Lydia cried a hand shooting to her stomach, "I'm not pregnant am I?"

"No," Scott smiled, then hesitated, then repeated, "No, definitely not."

"Don't do that," She said sternly before relaxing again, "No, Stiles and I are done. We were done after Andrew."

"Really? You guys didn't plan Evelyn? Stiles never said anything."

"There isn't seven years between Andrew and her for no reason," Lydia raised an eyebrow, "We even had a nickname for her when I was pregnant. It was oops."

Scott laughed, "Only you would have an oops baby who would turn out to be literally perfect."

Lydia laughed with him as her eyes searched for Stiles, "Shouldn't you be helping him?"

"Probably," Scott shrugged, "But honestly, he's better at this stuff than I am, especially now. Don't tell him I said that."

"As long as you don't tell him that I don't want him to go to Atlanta tomorrow."

"He's leaving?" Scott asked sharply, "He didn't say anything."

"Because you worry about him like you're his mother," Lydia said gently.

"I just, you know how much we've lived through Lydia, and forgetting all of us, you know how much _he _has lived through," Scott sighed, "And I want him to die when he's a hundred years old with a bunch of grandchildren in his sleep. I don't want him to get shot by a gangbanger, it seems like such a stupid way to die after everything."

"And Allison died," Lydia said softly, "And Aiden died, and Isaac left, and Ethan left, and mostly Allison died. You aren't worried about how Stiles will die, you're worried about what you'll do if he dies. You don't know how to live without him."

Scott was quiet for a long moment, "I know sometimes it looks like he needs me more than I need him, but Lydia, he's my brother, he's my best friend, he's the only reason I'm alive. All of this, I would never have survived, I would never have this life without him. Everything I have, I owe it to him."

"I know," Lydia nodded, "I know because I feel the same way. We joke about it, but Scott, I ignored his existence for fifteen years, I was so cruel to him, I don't deserve him."

"None of us do, but we have him."

"Is there something you want to tell me Scott? Should I be worried about my husband?" Lydia teased tired of the serious conversation.

"Just a bromance," Scott promised standing up and holding out a hand, "Come on."

They walked in silence for a long moment, but suddenly a thought entered Lydia's mind, and she couldn't let it go.

"Scott?"

"Yeah?"

"You aren't alone," She looked at him, "I know I'm not Stiles or Allison, I know this all started with you three, and I know I'm not half the woman Allison is, and god knows I am not anywhere near as good as Stiles, but you aren't alone. You don't just have a brother, you have a sister too."

Scott looked at her for a long moment, before wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up, "I kind of love you."

Lydia laughed into his shoulder, "I kind of love you too."

"Whoa, should I be worried?"

"No," Scott laughed wrapping an arm under her knees, "Here, you can have her. I have a badass kitsune, what I would I want her for?"

"Well," Stiles said as he took her from Scott, bridal style, "She's smart, and she's funny, not to mention she's ridiculously beau-"

"Hey!" Scott admonished as Lydia cut Stiles off with a kiss, "She just called herself my sister, you can't kiss my sister."

"I can kiss my wife." Stiles smirked as he put her down and leaned down again to kiss her except she dodged him.

"Stiles what is that?" Lydia raised a shaky hand to point at the top of the tree hoping to anyone who was listening that she wasn't seeing what she thought she was seeing.

"No way." Stiles said slowly, "That is not possible. Scott is this what the first body looked like."

"Yes, exactly like that."

"Stiles," Lydia said her voice cracking, "Stiles-"

"Turn around, Lydia, turn around," He said gently despite the fact that he wasn't really paying attention to her, "Shit, I should have seen it before."

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked as Kira and Derek joined them, "This is the third body we found, they all looked exactly the same, clawed up by an Omega. Do you think it's another darach? Darachs have claws and that's three murders."

"No it's not," Stiles said, "Lydia!"

"What?" She jumped tearing her gaze away from the mutilated body to look at Stiles who had addressed her in a surprisingly angry tone.

"I told you to turn around, do it, now."

Lydia raised her eyebrows, "Excuse me? Did you – whoa Stiles, what the hell?"

Stiles had grabbed her upper arm roughly and dragging her backwards, in the general direction of the road, away from the body that was hanging by a rope from a tree branch.

"Listen to me," Stiles said seriously his eyes boring into her own, "That body, a werewolf didn't kill him."

"What do you mean a werewolf didn't kill him?" Lydia said grabbing her arm out of his grip, "Stiles it's so obvious-"

"Lydia, do you trust me?" He interrupted.

"I- Stiles – yes." She sighed.

"Then trust me, I need you to go, okay?" Stiles repeated, "This is people, not supernatural, not werewolf, this is people doing the killing do you understand me?"

"People?" Lydia repeated, "Like humans?"

"Like humans," Stiles confirmed, "There's a case I'm working, I don't have time to tell you more right, but I will I promise. I just need you to trust me right now."

"Okay." She nodded, "What do I need to do?"

"I need you to my parents and I need you to get Evelyn, do you understand, Lydia?" Stiles raised his eyebrows, "Get Evelyn. Then you call the baby-sitter and you have her meet you somewhere with Alex and Andrew – somewhere public."

"Okay, so I shouldn't go home?"

"No," He shook his head, "You do not go home Lydia. Go to Liam's okay? He can protect you, once you get there, you call Malia. Tell her vacation's over, tell her to get to Liam's. You and the kids do not leave Liam's house till I come for you."

"Okay but-"

"Lydia, no buts, do you understand me?"

"Yes," She nodded, "Yes I understand, Stiles, but what about everyone else? Why are they staying, and why am I leaving?"

"Because I need to bring in the Sheriff's department, and I need to bring in an FBI team, so everyone there – Scott, Kira, Derek, they are all witnesses, and you can't be a witness."

"Why can't I be a witness, I don't understand?" She shook her head.

"Because your name can not be on any of those papers, these are bad people, Lydia. You can't be associated with this case."

"But I'm your wife," Lydia shook her head, "I am associated."

"Not directly," Stiles shook his head, "I need you to be safe, so you need to go."

"What about Scott, and Kira, and Derek? They need to be safe too."

"Lydia, they can take care of themselves. Scott and Derek are werewolves, and Kira is a kitsune."

"So you're saying I can't take care of myself?" Lydia asked feeling slightly hurt.

"I'm saying that our kids can't take of themselves," Stiles shot back, "I'm saying that they can never be left alone."

"Stiles Stilinski," Lydia said dangerously, "If you get yourself killed, I swear-"

Stiles cut her off grabbing her waist roughly and capturing her lips in a rough kiss, "I love you too."

"Okay," She nodded wiping at her face, "Okay, I'm going now. Stay safe."

"Wait," Stiles called after her.

"What?" She turned around.

Stiles reached a hand behind his back to pull out a handgun, causing Lydia's eyes to widen. She knew that Stiles carried a gun, she was even used to her hand grazing it when she was kissing him, but she definitely wasn't used to seeing it.

"Stiles," She said slowly.

"I know this is scary," Stiles said pulling back the top part of the gun, "And I know this is all moving really fast, but I need you to take this, okay?"

"Take that?" Lydia repeated.

"You go for the knee first," Stiles said grabbing her hand and placing the gun in it, "If that isn't enough you put a bullet in their head. Shoot first, ask questions later."

"Stiles, I'm not a killer."

"But you are a mother." He said closing her fingers around the handle, "Listen to me, I don't think anything is going to happen, I really believe that you and the kids are safe, but these people are here, and they are bad people, Lydia. The safety is off, all you have to do is aim, and shoot."

"And you really don't think I will have to use this?" She confirmed.

"No, I don't. I just know that you need to protect yourself, and our kids. That's why I'm asking you to leave, not because I don't think you can protect yourself, but because I know you can protect yourself, and our kids."

"I love you," Lydia whispered.

"Be careful."


	5. Chapter 5

"Blakely & Morrison?" Lydia said in a questioning tone with raised eyebrows, "You're telling me the big bad you basically had me run away from with my tail tucked between my legs was a freaking law firm?"

"Okay one, you can't use that metaphor when most of your friends actually do have a tail, and second, this is the one of the biggest law firms in the entire world, Lydia." Stiles said.

"Okay, so why are they killing people and then scratching them up?"

"Lydia," Stiles said slowly, "Those injuries aren't post-mortem."

In any other situation she might have wondered how Stiles actually knew the term post-mortem, but the implication of that statement overruled that, "You're saying that they were still alive when these people clawed them up."

"They tortured them." Stiles said bluntly.

Lydia exhaled slowly as she leaned back deeper in her chair. For the first time, she understood why Stiles never told her anything about work, because despite how unbelievable it seemed, there was something so much worse, so much more terrifying about the idea of people doing terrible things.

She would have further welcomed another dead pool, or a kanima, or a darach, or even another alpha pack, hell she would even resurrect Peter Hale again than believe the idea that this was just regular people doing this.

There was something more excusable idea about the idea of monsters doing monstrous things, it was easier to pass off, by letting yourself think it was in their genetic makeup, it was different when it was simply a human.

Then you couldn't ignore the fact that some people in the world, were just terrible people.

"Are you still going to Atlanta in the morning?" She asked.

Stiles shook his head.

"So then I guess I can give this back to you, right?" Lydia asked pulling the gun that had been tucked into the back of her jeans, burning an imprint into her skin, and holding it out to him by the back.

"I'm not going to be able to convince you to keep it, am I?" He asked as a reply.

"Not a chance." She shook her head.

"Then we're going to have to invest in another taser." He said ruefully as he took the gun from her, and tucked it into his own jeans.

"So what do they want? I mean what are they looking for?" Lydia asked.

Stiles hesitated, "Let's just say they've covered up a lot of crimes that shouldn't have been covered up."

"What does that-" Lydia's own question was lost to her as a loud, piercing scream echoed throughout the house.

"Evelyn!" Stiles yelled loudly, the noise registering with him just seconds before it did Lydia, causing her to be just a few steps behind Stiles as he raced up the steps, the gun in his hand, his finger on the trigger, but aimed at the floor.

"Come here." Lydia cried as Andrew rushed out his room, his eyes wide, "Come here."

Lydia held Andrew tightly to her, as Stiles entered Evelyn's room, the door banging loudly against the wall, as he nearly broke it open.

"Mom?" Alex asked as quickly came out of his room.

Lydia simply let go of Andrew with one, and offered it to Alex.

"It's just a nightmare." Stiles called from the room, causing Lydia to release a shaky breath, and let go of the boys, and head into Evelyn's room, both of them hot on her heels.

"Is she okay?" Lydia asked as she entered the room to find Stiles standing up, holding Evelyn, who was no longer screaming, but crying into Stiles' shoulder, as he stood, rocking her gently, "Come here, babe."

Gently, Lydia took her daughter out of her husband's arms, as she gave him a meaningful look before daring her eyes in the direction of the boys, Alex was staring at the gun that was sitting on Evelyn's nightstand with wide eyes, while Andrew was looking at it with an unreadable expression.

"What were you going to do, shoot Ev?"

Stiles shot Lydia a look, like it was her fault that Alex had the mannerisms that he did, like it was her fault that he spoke the way he did, which, off the record, it most likely was.

"Alright, go to your room."

"Wait I'm seriously in trouble?" Alex raised his eyebrows looking more surprised by that than he was the gun.

In his defense, Lydia couldn't even remember that last time she had got on her kids, about well anything, let alone Stiles doing so. They were both incredibly easy-going people, when they weren't being attacked by those with homicidal tendencies, supernatural or otherwise.

Hell, they had a wall in their living room that was painted because Andrew decided to color on it when he was four, and they had decided to just keep it, eventually it had just become a wall where anyone and everyone drew or wrote on.

"Tons." Stiles said sarcastically, "No, take your brother, I need to talk to you both."

"About the gun?" Andrew asked.

"Forget about the gun, you've always known there's a gun, you know there are guns, go before you both are actually in trouble." Stiles rolled his eyes as he put the gun out of sight.

It only took seconds for Alex and Andrew to exit the room quickly, both of them muttering under their breaths about whether or not they thought Stiles were serious, but both deciding not to risk it.

Only her children would be take a threat Stiles made seriously.

"What were you actually going to do?" Lydia asked with a small laugh as she switched Evelyn to her other hip, the crying just becoming too loud for one ear.

Sometimes, her daughter was easy to calm down, and other's it was the hardest thing in the entire world, but on those occasions, it was easier to just let her cry it all out.

"I don't know, take their phones?" Stiles shrugged.

"Stiles," Lydia raised her eyebrows, "They don't have phones."

"Right, we need to get them both one." Stiles said as he made sure that the window in Evelyn's room was locked.

"Andrew too?" Lydia asked.

"They're only like a year apart, Lyds, and it's not like Alex is going to through a bitch fit because he had to wait till he was twelve to get a phone, and Andrew is eleven."

"And if he does?"

Stiles grinned, "Then he'll have a phone we can take away."

Lydia laughed, as Evelyn slowly started to stop crying.

"You got her?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah," She nodded before moving her head in the direction of the door, "Go talk to the boys."

It took Lydia five more minutes after Stiles left, to finally get Evelyn to completely calm down. She sat on her little twin sized bed, as Evelyn sat on her knees, on Lydia's legs, her little head resting against her collarbone.

"Mommy, I don't want to sleep anymore."

"Well you don't have to if you don't want," Lydia said gently, "But I think you're going to be really tired tomorrow if you don't."

"Every time I close my eyes there is something scary."

Lydia froze in her action of running her fingers through Evelyn's hair, before she continued on, "Is that why you haven't been sleeping?"

"It's just scary."

"Why didn't you tell Mommy or Daddy, babe?" Lydia asked gently pulling Evelyn's head away from her neck, so she could find her eyes.

"I don't want to talk."

Lydia sighed as Evelyn moved her head back against her shoulder, and settled for running one hand up and down her back, and the other through her hair, hoping she could coax her back to sleep.

"Babe?" Stiles yawned entering the room, "Are you coming to bed?"

Lydia glanced at the clock to realize she had been in there nearly an hour with Evelyn, who still wasn't asleep. She raised her eyebrows, and made a face at him, as if to say 'what do we do now?'

"Rosie, baby?" Stiles said carefully from the doorway.

Evelyn turned her head on Lydia's shoulder to look at Stiles but she didn't reply.

"Alright," Stiles sighed as he walked over, "Come on, scoot."

It took some shifting, and Evelyn was lying completely on top of Stiles, but eventually they managed to fit all three into Evelyn's twin bed. They knew that she wasn't going to like her princess bed by the time outgrew it, so they hadn't seen the point in buying the bigger bed, but Lydia was seriously questioning that decision, it wasn't like they didn't have money to spare.

"Alright, Rosie," Stiles said quietly but firmly, "I think it's time you tell Mommy and Daddy what's going on with you."

Lydia just knew that Evelyn would answer Stiles, because that's just how it was, they were Evelyn and Stiles.

When Evelyn was in Stiles' arms you could see it all, she felt protected, secure, and at peace. For a long time it had bothered Lydia, that she couldn't provide those same things for Evelyn just by holding her in her arms.

She hadn't grown up with a father, she didn't have the kind of adoration for her father that Evelyn did with Stiles, and she was sure that her father couldn't tell that she walked into a room without turning around to look like Stiles could.

She had never understood exactly what was so great about a father's presence that could make you feel so safe.

Eventually, it had been Scott that had helped Lydia understand, or rather Allison, and all it had taken was a simple statement.

"Allison was the strongest woman I have ever known, she was fiercely independent, she didn't need anyone Lydia, not a single person in the world, but she needed her dad, she let her dad protect her."

And that was it for Lydia, it was like it all made sense to her in ways she still couldn't put into words.

It also helped her understand the things she gave Evelyn that Stiles couldn't.

"There's just a monster, and he keeps hurting Allie."

It took Lydia a second to register that Evelyn was talking about her imaginary friend.

"What's he doing to Allie?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know." Evelyn said miserably, "He sticks her with something pointy, and then she falls, and she doesn't get back up."

Lydia took a sharp breath as her eyes found Stiles' worried and anxious eyes, she was sure her own reflected the same two emotions, as both of them had the same exact thought.

Allison.


End file.
